Helen Conlon

Helen Ann Conlon, 87, passed away on September 1st, 2018, after a brief illness. Born in New York City on July 26th, 1931, she was the daughter of Helen and Jerry Laurita. A native New Yorker who never quite lost her Queens accent, she worked as an executive secretary in ad agencies during the Mad Men era. In 1959, she married Leonard Ronald Conlon, and started a family. After moves to New Jersey, St.Louis, MO and Fairfield, CT, they settled in 1971 in Weston, CT with their four children.

Helen was a leader in her community, starting a Gourmet Club, working at the Women's Guild at St. Francis of Assisi, raising money by cooking for hundreds at the annual PTO Memorial Day Fair, producing and assisting in countless musical theatre programs, fundraising for the Weston High School marching band’s first-ever uniforms, and guiding scores of young women as a Girl Scout troop leader. In addition, Helen was everyone's “other” mom, whose home was always open and she was the confidante to many of the children growing up in town.

An accomplished artist and seamstress, she was seldom without knitting needles or a crochet hook tucked in her purse. She designed and built costumes for Broadway productions (at the iconic Costume Bazaar in New Haven), professional ballet companies, and for many of the Weston Company shows in the 1970s and 80s.

In 1981, Helen and Ron fulfilled a longtime passion for feeding large groups of people and bought Swanky Franks, the famed hotdog restaurant in Norwalk. She was often found in the restaurant chatting with customers, stirring up tubs of macaroni salad and making everyone who entered feel at home. In 2005, Helen moved to Kent and immediately became involved in local theater, the Community House commission, and joined the Kent Congregational church, which became her new spiritual home, eventually becoming a deacon. Helen’s welcoming “open door” policy continued at her home in north Kent, becoming a regular spot for pool parties and barbecues with friends and family. To Helen, Kent became her second “hometown”.

Helen leaves her daughters Jacquelyn, Jennifer Collier, Jean Speck and husband Tedd; son Jerry and wife Julie; grandchildren Catherine, Chip, Samm, Sharon, Heather and Sarah; step-grandchildren, Nick, Jon and Robert Collier and Ian Ward; her fiercely loyal feline companion Thelma, and her many four-legged fur grandchildren. She was pre-deceased by her husband Leonard Conlon in 1995.

A celebration of Helen’s life will take place on Saturday October 20th at 11:00 a.m. at Kent Congregational Church, 97 North Main Street, Kent, CT.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Girl Scouts of Connecticut, 340 Washington Street, Hartford, CT 06106, or The Little Guild, 285 Sharon Goshen Turnpike, West Cornwall, CT 06796